The 39-old-woman died on March 20 in the southern German city of Nuremberg and a post-mortem was ordered after doctors said her death was "not natural," said Bernhard Wankel, spokesman for the prosecutor's office.

The post-mortem, together with doctors' reports compiled from when she was still alive, showed she may have died from the effects of mustard gas.

According to her husband, her mountain village in northern Iraq was hit by the Iraqi regime in a mustard gas attack on June 6, 1987.

"This is the absolute beginning of the inquiry," Wankel said. "There is no charge as yet.

He said it was "irrelevant" that the investigation was being launched now just as Saddam's regime was crumbling beneath him, saying the state was obliged to inquire into any non-natural death.

"It's not the case that because of the war we are pursuing Saddam Hussein, it's just that the woman has died, that the facts have become known, and the prosecutor's office has to investigate," he told AFP.

"How this process will end, I can't say at the moment."

SPACE.WIRE